Talking Trash
This bandwagon is a trash truck, and it’s picking up speed in Maryland
On September 10, the city of Annapolis reduced its trash and recycling pickup from two days to once a week.
Anne Arundel County made the same move in June, reaping countians a savings of $17 on their solid-waste disposal fee, now $298.
Annapolitans will do better in increased saving and services. With the city’s switch from government to private pick-up, city dwellers’ bills drop to $380 from $426, for a savings of $46.
Savings are collective as well as individual. “Recycling is compounded with single-day pick-up,” Jarrell says.
Regular big-item pick-up sweetens the shift for Annapolitans. Smaller bulk items — up to 20 pounds — will be picked up along with bagged or canned trash. Recycling will be picked up by a separate truck the same day. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are trash and recycling days, falling on a neighborhood’s old recycling day. Wednesday does double duty as yard waste day for the whole city and pick-up day, on demand, for up to two big bulk items.
Inconvenience is slight. There’s been no general rebellion in Anne Arundel — though fish and crab eaters like retired Washington Post columnist Angus Phillips of Annapolis have complained of the summer pungency of their trash.
Calvert Countians might sniff at any fuss. Except in the two incorporated towns, North Beach and Chesapeake Beach, and in subdivisions that buy community-wide pick-up, you carry your own trash and recycling to a county waste center. For that convenience, home and business owners pay a fee of $150.
See the Annapolis plan at http://youtu.be/Y2DxI8y988M or read full details at http://bit.ly/NqsyMA.